Congressman wants Sriracha’s jobs to move to Los Angeles, not Texas

Huy Fong Foods CEO David Tran, left, meets with San Fernando Valley Congressman Tony Cardenas, right, and Los Angeles City Council representatives after a tour of the Sriracha factory in Irwindale on Tuesday April 22, 2014. Tran said he was disappointed the Irwindale City Council voted to declare the factory a public nuisance and may consider moving his Sriracha business. (Staff Photo by Keith Durflinger/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

Chief Executive Operations Officer, Donna Lam, left, leads San Fernando Valley Congressman Tony Cardenas, center, and Los Angeles City Council representatives on a tour of the Sriracha factory in Irwindale on Tuesday April 22, 2014. CEO David Tran said he was disappointed the Irwindale City Council voted to declare the factory a public nuisance and may consider moving his Sriracha business. (Staff Photo by Keith Durflinger/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

IRWINDALE>> The San Fernando Valley has been the home of the porn industry since the 1970s, but one congressman hopes that hot chili sauce Sriracha will spice up the Valley’s future.

Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Los Angeles, toured Huy Fong Foods Tuesday morning in hopes of convincing CEO David Tran that if the Sriracha factory moves out of the city of Irwindale, its new home should be in the San Fernando Valley.

“As the city of Los Angeles, we’d love to have a facility like this in our area,” Cardenas said. “We’d welcome it. It’s jobs. It’s not about how good the product tastes at the end of the day. Our highest priority is making sure that we keep products made in America.”

Tran has opened his factory doors to lawmakers who are interested in having his company relocate to their region. He has had interest from officials in several states, from Ohio to Georgia to New Mexico and Arizona. Lawmakers from Texas, the state that has created the most attention in its push for Sriracha, are scheduled to tour the factory in May.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz from Houston even Tweeted Monday: “#Sriracha may not be welcome in California, but you’d be welcomed with open arms and eager taste buds in Texas.”

After they toured the 650,000 square-foot facility, Cardenas and representatives from L.A. City Councilman Felipe Fuentes’ office, sat down with Tran.

“Hopefully, you stay here, and if not, hopefully you can stay in Los Angeles and continue to work here,” Cardenas told Tran. “But we don’t want you to go to Texas, we don’t want you to go to Missouri, we don’t want you to leave.”

Tran said he has spent more than 30 years working to contain the chili odors.

“Our processing line, 33 years ago, it was spicy, so with my experience, every year we change it,” he said. “I want to keep the workers happy in the room and feel more comfortable. Otherwise, nobody work for me.”

Tran said he needs to expand because of the growing demand, especially from overseas. Sriracha is shipped to every continent. By 2017, Tran said he will outgrow the Irwindale facility.

He said in the last five years he hasn’t opened any new accounts with distributors because he doesn’t have enough room to harvest chilies on the Central Valley farms he works with. Farms will harvest 120 million pounds of chilies this year that will be turned into Sriracha, Tran said..

Tran said his grandparents used to tell him he shouldn’t put all his eggs in one basket.

“We need the land to build, if in your area, the land is suitable, we’ll build one over there, and if Texas has the land we’ll build it,” Tran said.

If Tran relocates, he said he still needs to operate the Irwindale facility.

“We need to keep running to make money and invest somewhere more than one to keep the demand for orders overseas.”

He said he fears what will happen if the city comes in after the 90-day grace period expires on the public nuisance order and adds “contraptions” to abate the odors before the chili grinding season begins.

Tran, who is ethnic Chinese and came to the U.S. more than 30 years ago from Vietnam, told Cardenas he is a dreamer.

“My dream is the Sriracha, the Asian hot sauce made in U.S.A. and ship to all over the globe, anywhere,” said Tran. “I promise that I won’t go overseas to build factory. I build in U.S.A., my hot sauce only made in U.S.A.”

The City Council is expected to formally adopt the public nuisance order Wednesday night. Huy Fong Foods will have until July 22 to abate the odors or city officials will be able to enter the factory and make changes themselves.